Teacher

Pauliina Syrjälä is an experienced educator and lecturer in folk music. She has been teaching since the age of 14 and has worked extensively across different levels of education. Before joining the Sibelius Academy in 2014, she worked as the head of a folk music programme at a folk high school and as a lecturer at Centria and Karelia Universities of Applied Sciences.

Through her own artistic practice, Syrjälä has explored in particular how playing can be a way of observing and how improvisation can serve as a starting point for composition. This is also reflected in her pedagogical thinking: one does not have to know or understand everything beforehand. Music can be approached by listening, experimenting and the act of playing. She seeks to encourage students to discover their own musicianship and to develop their relationship with different traditions as today’s folk musicians.

Syrjälä works as a lecturer in folk music at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, currently teaching mainly theoretical subjects and supervising degree projects and theses. She also has extensive experience in educational development and leadership. She served as Head of the folk music department from 2018 to 2022 and has different responsibilities within doctoral education at the Sibelius Academy. She supervises doctoral researchers and serves as the programme coordinator for the Nordic Master in Folk Music, a joint Nordic degree programme.

In doctoral education, Syrjälä is particularly interested in how artistic practice and research intertwine and inform one another. As a teacher, she values interaction and genuine presence in the shared working process. Getting to know the student, understanding their perspective, and following their individual way of working are essential parts of her pedagogical approach.

In both folk music and research, some of the most interesting things emerge when phenomena are explored and wondered about together. A teacher cannot be a profound expert in everything, but continues to learn alongside their students. The role of a teacher is not to provide ready-made answers, but to create space for curiosity, experimentation, and discovery – and to support each student in growing into a musician, artist, and researcher in their own way.